


Trust Him

by canonlanon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, lowkey klance at the end, seriously tho there is VIOLENCE
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2019-03-21 14:12:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13742637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canonlanon/pseuds/canonlanon
Summary: Keith listened now, but not to Lance when he should’ve.Keith listened now, but not when Pidge had come barreling onto the bridge rambling about strange Galran energy coating the castle.Keith listened now, but not when Lance had opened his mouth and turned to Pidge, surely to tell her about his doubts about Shiro.Not when they cracked the code, either.No, Keith didn’t listen because he thought he knew better. He thought he would notice the shivering down his spine before it happened, before all of this went to shit, as it did anyways.





	Trust Him

He was used to the cold.

 

Living in the desert for over a year taught Keith that nights can be freezing, and warmth is scarce. He knew how to position himself for optimal warmth, how to wrap himself up under blankets and block out the cold darkness.

 

Nothing, not the vast emptiness of space, not losing Shiro,  _ twice _ , not even the ripped quilt that used to occupy his shack could prepare him to handle this.

 

They had finally discovered Kuron’s ruse. Keith should’ve known. He should’ve seen the way Shir- that…  _ thing _ would give his team the cold shoulder. Should’ve known something was off when his pep talks never seemed to work on Keith anymore. He figured it was because of his newfound connection with Lance, and while the implications of that idea scared him, he’d be lying if he said the loss of communication between him and Shiro was cold and… confusing. Hell, even after befriending Lance or… whatever was going on between them, and Lance telling him he felt something was off, that something felt wrong about Shiro, Keith didn’t listen. Shiro was his best friend, his brother in some weird twisted way. 

 

Keith listened now, but not to Lance when he should’ve. 

Keith listened now, but not when Pidge had come barreling onto the bridge rambling about strange Galran energy coating the castle.

Keith listened now, but not when Lance had opened his mouth and turned to Pidge, surely to tell her about his doubts about Shiro.

Not when they cracked the code, either.

No, Keith didn’t listen because he thought he knew better. He thought he would notice the shivering down his spine before it happened, before all of this went to shit, as it did anyways.

 

Lance had rallied Coran, Hunk and Pidge to his side, and even Allura seemed to start to believe him.

 

Keith didn’t want to listen, but… Lance hadn’t really had a reason to lead him astray, would he? Lance was typically very good about being serious when the time came, and damn he sure looked determined. So… maybe Lance was telling the truth? Maybe there was something weird about Shiro?

 

Before Keith had enough time to really delve into thought that much though, Shiro burst through the door.

 

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, Keith supposed.

 

“Guys?” ‘Shiro’ had asked. “Guys, what’s going on? You all seem stressed.”

 

If Keith hadn’t known Shiro for years, he may’ve believed the concern underlying his monotonous tone. He felt his body heat a good extra ten degrees the exact same time his head felt like it had been dumped in ice water.

 

“Keith?” he had said, as if he were Shiro, as if he knew Keith at all.

 

“Shiro?” Keith asked, but his voice betrayed him, sounding small.

 

“Or… not Shiro.” 

 

Pidge filled in, because _thank you Pidge_ , and Shiro seemed to visibly stiffen, even as he wore the black paladin armour.

 

“I believe the exact title of Mr. Roboto over here is ‘Kuron’.”

 

Right. Lance.

 

Back to the matter at hand.

 

Keith remembered only that much, and then all hell broke loose.

 

Shiro- or, Kuron, leapt towards the closest body, Pidge. Lance took immediate action, shoving Kuron off her, pulling Pidge backwards with him to safety, as Keith walked backwards into Hunk, who grasped firmly on his shoulders.

 

“C’mon Keith, c’mon buddy” Hunk had whispered, rubbing up and down his arms.

 

He thought it was Hunk, anyways.

 

Keith couldn’t tell, all he could see was white, all he could hear was screaming, and when he came to, Hunk was on the other side of the room, covered in blood. Coran was ripping his own vest, to act as an immediate bandage. Suddenly, Pidge goes flying across his line of sight, and he was suddenly confused to see her hit the floor instead of jetpack up, when he realised, nobody was in armor. Nobody was armed, pardon Keith, and nobody had armour, pardon Kuron.

 

Hearing the roar of a battle cry, Keith turned to see Allura charge at Kuron, who currently-

 

Oh.

 

Who currently held Lance up by the throat.

 

Shiro-Kuron-  _ whoever the fuck that is _ shoved Allura to the ground, slamming her head first. Ruthlessly. 

 

“STOP! Please, cut it out!” Keith tripped, trying to support himself on wobbly legs, but just about fell again when the yellow glow of Kuron’s eyes fell upon him.

 

“K-Keith, get… get them out… g-go…”

 

Lance was losing his tan, his face getting more of a gradient purple, gripping at the metal hand clasped around his throat.

 

“Coran, get them out of here!” Keith shouted to where he last saw Coran reaching for Pidge’s slumped frame.

 

Keith lunged forward, pulling out his Marmora blade, slamming into Kuron’s side and ripping forward, leaving a large gash in the impostor's side. Instead of dropping Lance as Keith had hoped, he used him as a shield, shoving Keith backwards with Lance’s struggling frame, finally throwing Lance on top him.

 

He rolled over, and Keith started rubbing his back as Lance coughed up blood.

 

“Keith, behind you!” Coran shouted, nearly dropping Allura in the doorway.

 

He turned to see Kuron’s hand lit and aiming for him, flinching as it got closer. Quickly he saw brown hair lunge sideways, and Lance had Keith's knife, pinning Kuron to the floor. Keith was up in a second, running towards them, and saw Kuron grip the arm where Lance held the knife, and started burning into his exposed skin. Keith suddenly wished Lance had his jacket on.

 

“You’re not Shiro, you’re not… you’re not him…” Keith heard Lance mutter the mantra, and his heart snapped in two. He pulled Lance to the side, kicking Kuron’s hand into his own face.

 

He picked up his discarded knife, and jammed it directly into Kuron’s neck.

 

The brief moment between Kuron’s death and how the light left his eyes, displaying a perfect image of Shiro, will haunt Keith past his grave.

 

There was no time to deal with the way Kuron had sparking wires emerging from his neck, Lance was unconscious on the ground, and from the slight amount of memory Keith had, he knew the other’s were worse for wear.

 

He picked up Lance bridal style, making his way down to the medical bay, hoping it wasn’t too late.

 

-

 

It took two weeks for the entire team to get out of the healing pods. It was two days before anyone really was released, and Keith spent those two days with Coran. Both just huddled together, holding their breath.

 

Allura was the first out. She had been hit so hard in the head she had forgotten what happened for a while, and it took a very obvious toll on Coran. He very carefully tried to explain what happened without crying, and Keith spent way too long having to rub the older man’s back to keep him from crying. However, seeing Hunk emerge from his pod at the end of the week jarred her memory. 

 

Hunk, the poor guy, had been awake the entire time, and broke down the moment Keith caught him in his arms, crying about how he couldn’t stop him, how Kuron had absolutely destroyed everyone, and he couldn’t stand and help. Coran, Allura and Keith spent that day reassuring Hunk he did everything he could, and they were lucky to have him back.

 

When Pidge came out the pod the next day, she was silent. She just dropped out the pod, shoved herself out of Hunk’s arms, grabbed her computer and said she’d be in the control room. So the team had to figure out what to do to get Pidge to rest instead of observing Kuron’s remains, but nobody was ready to enter that room yet. Nobody else could stomach walking in there and seeing the dried blood everywhere, the spark of electricity out the wires of Kuron.

 

It was a whole extra week before Lance was healed, and the three days before, Allura had managed to pull Pidge from the control room, with minimal eye contact with Kuron, and the team sat at Lance’s pod, waiting. When he fell, Hunk gripped onto him with everything he had, and Coran and Allure were quick behind him. Keith refused to acknowledge the tears welling in his eyes.

 

Pidge nudged his shoulder, and they looked at each other a moment, then to Lance and Hunk and Allura and Coran’s lumped forms, then back to each other. A tear rolled down her cheek, and that was enough for Keith. The two hugged each other tightly, Pidge crying hard into Keith’s chest and him sobbing relief into the top of her hair.

 

They were alright. Pidge had gained a multitude of Galran intel from Kuron's programming, Hunk had made everyone’s favorite food for an entire month, Allura became more affectionate with the team, and Coran made active check ups on everyone.

 

Lance had a vague hand-shaped scar on his forearm, and another around his throat, but he made more jokes than ever, and for some reason, they were the funniest things Keith had ever heard.

 

Keith didn’t believe in his team before, but now he was the black paladin, he listened to everyone’s ideas and while he trusted his gut, he trusted his team as well. His ignorance almost made him lose them once, Keith refuses to make that mistake again.

 

-

 

A year after, they had finally found Shiro in a prison cell on a Galran fleet, and the reunion was emotionally wrecking. Everyone was crying, and Shiro was too scared to ask how all these new scars formed on his teammates.

 

One night, long after their reunion, Keith walked into the observation deck, after another night of reliving how Shiro had died by his own hands, no, how Kuron died at Keith’s own hands. He opened the door to see Lance curled in a ball, staring outwards. They ran into each other every now and then, and while they never really addressed it, it meant a lot to the both of them.

 

“Hey, Keith” Lance said, not even turning his head. “Couldn’t sleep?”

 

“No, not tonight.” Keith forgot his jacket in his room, and the observation deck is freezing, and he gently rubbed his arms.

 

Lance scooted closer, taking off his jacket and putting it around Keith’s shoulders. Lance was in a tank top and his jeans, which was a perfect display of the hand prints on his arm and throat. Keith was having trouble swallowing, and Lance noticed his gaze at his throat.

 

“Keith, that wasn’t your faul-”

 

“No Lance, if I had only believed you sooner then-”

  
  
“But you did believe me. That’s the important part here. You trusted me enough to believe me, even before Kuron happened, and that means so much.” Lance wrapped a lanky arm over Keith’s shoulder, pulling him close to where they were touching temples.

 

“You did what you thought was the best option at the time, and nobody blames you for that. It was an… intense situation, but we pulled through. We’re the legendary defenders of Voltron, son! There’s nothin’ that’ll pull us down.” Lance smirked down to Keith, and Keith readjusted himself to where he leaned more on Lance’s chest.

 

“Still would’ve liked to’ve protected you more”

 

“You and your southern slang, even in space you still love conjunctions.”

 

“Lance I swear-”   
  


“You did protect me, and I’m still grateful for it, to this day. Even though I’ve saved your ass multiple times since then.”

 

He chuckled at the light jab Keith made to his side, and leaned back a little to be face to face with him.

 

“Keith, I-” Lance’s eyes were locked onto the ferocity of Keith’s purple, and the two slowly inched closer.

 

“Yea, Lance. Me too.”

 

They leaned into each other, sharing a brief kiss, before Keith backed up, pressing their foreheads together.

 

“If all it takes is putting you in life-threatening situations to kiss me more, I think I’ll have to ask Allura for more missions.”

 

Lance laughed, kissing Keith’s forehead.

 

“I don’t mind, I know you’ll be there to protect me if anything goes wrong. I trust you.”

 

And Keith trusted Lance, too.


End file.
